New Member - First Chart & Curve - Thoughts?

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ajk

Member Since 2014
Hello All,

I am a new member and I've read some of your FAQ, plus I have been reading online resources for a few weeks since one of my cats has been diagnosed. I have been monitoring on my own for the past week or so and I completed my first curve yesterday as well as filled in your tracking spreadsheet with the tests I have recorded thus far. Currently at 3 units for my 12lb 11year old male cat named Stinky Poopers.

After completing my first multi test day yesterday I wanted to research the results more and I found myself here. Going into it I had read a common regulated diabetic cat curve would fall into 120-300 range. My curve ranged from 112-165 and I found in your FAQ that this may be considered "Tightly Regulated" if I am understanding it correctly. My diabetic cat has never shown any of the signs of Hypoglycemia and I hope he never will, but I would love to her any input, comments, or suggestions you all may have based on my test results if you don't mind as I appreciate other point of views.

I've just been performing tests at home recently and the results should be available now in my signature if any of you have a moment to take a peek.

Thanks so much!
 
What kind of insulin?
The curve is very good, However, you really do not have sufficient BG to show how your arrived at the 3 units. Yo may have overshot the optimum dose.
What are you feeding?

And welcome
 
Hello and welcome! Look at you go! Great numbers for yesterday! Excellent job in getting the spreadsheet set up. One thing I noticed is that you have been changing the dose every day. Are you using Lantus for insulin? What are you feeding?

For Lantus, the protocol we follow states you should wait about 6 cycles before evaluating and adjusting the dose. This is because Lantus is a depot drug - it builds up in the cat's body over time. I would be concerned at 3u for a 12lb cat - that is high for a starting dose. Please monitor closely, every day if you can. If possible, it's best to get a check in before each shot of insulin and then at least one time mid-cycle (even at night). Dose adjustments are made based on the lowest number in the cycle, not just the ones at shot times.

More people will probably come by soon and provide more info. I am at work, so I can't give you the full meal deal. I just wanted to make sure you watch Stinky - I'm concerned at 3u that might be too much and he could crash hard. Do you have a hypo kit prepared? Karo or honey, some gravy flavored canned food? If you test and get a low number, post here right away and we'll help you through it.

Again, welcome to the forum! The greatest place you never wanted to be....
 
I would have stuck with the 1.5 units am and pm for at least a couple weeks. Changing up to 3 units I think is too big a jump too soon. Did the vet advise this?
Juliet
 
Hi Ajk and welcome!

Can you let us know the type of meter you are using to measure BG. Is it a human meter (e.g. Reiion) or a pet meter (e.g. Alphatrak)?
 
The spread sheet does not indicate changing the dose every day. The SS only includes:

10/29
10/30
10/31
11/1
11/9
Tara & Buster said:
Hello and welcome! Look at you go! Great numbers for yesterday! Excellent job in getting the spreadsheet set up. One thing I noticed is that you have been changing the dose every day. Are you using Lantus for insulin? What are you feeding?

For Lantus, the protocol we follow states you should wait about 6 cycles before evaluating and adjusting the dose. This is because Lantus is a depot drug - it builds up in the cat's body over time. I would be concerned at 3u for a 12lb cat - that is high for a starting dose. Please monitor closely, every day if you can. If possible, it's best to get a check in before each shot of insulin and then at least one time mid-cycle (even at night). Dose adjustments are made based on the lowest number in the cycle, not just the ones at shot times.

More people will probably come by soon and provide more info. I am at work, so I can't give you the full meal deal. I just wanted to make sure you watch Stinky - I'm concerned at 3u that might be too much and he could crash hard. Do you have a hypo kit prepared? Karo or honey, some gravy flavored canned food? If you test and get a low number, post here right away and we'll help you through it.

Again, welcome to the forum! The greatest place you never wanted to be....
Click to expand...
 
Thanks so much all for the welcome & replies!

I am going to try to respond to you all and provide the information, but I may have to log on later to finish.

The Insulin he is on is Lantis.

Food is Innova 100% Whole Grain Twice a day with a few daily treats

The dosage history wen't like this:
1u 9/21-10/15
1.5u 10/16-11/1
2.5u 11/2-11/7
3u 11/8- ?

The chart may have looked shorter because I just listed my tests I performed at home, and I just started doing so on 10/29 which was after my last vet visit. Prior to that he was tested 3 times at the vet about every 2 weeks since diagnosis which was back in September. The vet recommended 2.5-3u last visit so I went to 2.5u for 5 days and 3u for just the past 3 days.

I have read about what to do in case of a hypo, but I didn't prepare a kit to have readily available. Thanks for this suggestion I will do so today.

The meter is a AlphaTrak 2 as my vet insisted despite many online resources informed many human units were comparable.

Should I be considering going back down to 2 or 2.5 units based on my history?
 
My bad - thank you for catching the dates being spread out, Larry. :oops:

Ajk - you should add AlphaTrak 2 to your signature so advisors will know how to read your numbers. There is a different scale for human meters and the AlphaTraks - it's kind of like the difference between Celsius vs Farenheit.
 
Tara & Buster said:
Ajk - you should add AlphaTrak 2 to your signature so advisors will know how to read your numbers. There is a different scale for human meters and the AlphaTraks - it's kind of like the difference between Celsius vs Farenheit.
Click to expand...

Thanks it should be updated now. Can you tell me the scale difference between AlphaTrak and a normal human meter for my future reference?
 
Basically, the target range for cats using human meters is 40/50 - 120, but with the AlphaTrak it's more like 70/80 - 150. Roughly, a 30 point difference.
 
Thanks for explaining that.


I just wanted to check back with you all on the dosage, as I was trying to determine if I should go back down to 2.5 or stay right at 3u based on my results?
 
Oh my gosh I can't stop laughing at how cute your sugar kitty's name is!!! Stinky Poopers!!! :-D

Welcome!!! Wow that's fantastic that you got your spreadsheet up and ready to go!

Still have a big smile on my face...Stinky Poopers...hehe. :-D Now you will have to post a pic of your baby, he sounds so cute (and is the same age as my furbaby!).
 
Please add the insulin to your signature so it will show up on future posts. That way, we don't have to search all your previous posts to find it :smile:

See my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for some additional assessments you may wish to make to help evaluate your cat. Especially, check out urine testing for ketones and dehydration checks.
 
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